Untouched except the dog and weasel kind,
and also (unless very hard pressed) the flesh of the fox and the wolf."
(Pallas, Samml. I. 128; also Rubr. 229-230.)
["In the Mongol biography of Chinghiz Khan (Mongol text of the Yuan ch'ao
pi shi), mention is made of two kinds of animals (mice) used for food;
the tarbagat (Aritomys Bobac) and kuchugur." (Palladius, l.c. p.
14.) Regarding the marmots called Sogur by Rubruquis, Mr. Rockhill
writes (p. 69): "Probably the Mus citillus, the Suslik of the
Russians.... M. Grenard tells me that Soghur, more usually written
sour in Turki, is the ordinary name of the marmot." - H. C.]
NOTE 4. - "Their wives are chaste; nor does one ever hear any talk of their
immodesty," says Carpini; - no Boccaccian and Chaucerian stories.
NOTE 5. - "The Mongols are not prohibited from having a plurality of wives;
the first manages the domestic concerns, and is the most respected."
(Timk. II. 310.) Naturally Polygamy is not so general among the Mongols
as when Asia lay at their feet. The Buraets, who seem to retain the old
Mongol customs in great completeness, are polygamists, and have as many
wives as they choose. Polygamy is also very prevalent among the Yakuts,
whose lineage seems to be Eastern Turk. (Ritter, III. 125; Erman, II.
346.)
Of the custom that entitled the son on succeeding to take such as he
pleased of his deceased father's wives, we have had some illustration (see
Prologue, ch. xvii. note 2), and many instances will be found in
Hammer's or other Mongol Histories. The same custom seems to be ascribed
by Herodotus to the Scyths (IV. 78). A number of citations regarding the
practice are given by Quatremere. (Q. R. p. 92.) A modern Mongol writer
in the Melanges Asiatiques of the Petersburg Academy, states that the
custom of taking a deceased brother's wives is now obsolete, but that a
proverb preserves its memory (II. 656). It is the custom of some Mahomedan
nations, notably of the Afghans, and is one of those points that have been
cited as a supposed proof of their Hebrew lineage.
"The Kalin is a present which the Bridegroom or his parents make to the
parents of the Bride. All the Pagan nations of Siberia have this custom;
they differ only in what constitutes the present, whether money or
cattle." (Gmelin, I. 29; see also Erman, II. 348.)
CHAPTER LIII.
CONCERNING THE GOD OF THE TARTARS.
This is the fashion of their religion. [They say there is a Most High God
of Heaven, whom they worship daily with thurible and incense, but they
pray to Him only for health of mind and body. But] they have [also] a
certain [other] god of theirs called NATIGAY, and they say he is the god
of the Earth, who watches over their children, cattle, and crops. They
show him great worship and honour, and every man hath a figure of him in
his house, made of felt and cloth; and they also make in the same manner
images of his wife and children. The wife they put on the left hand, and
the children in front. And when they eat, they take the fat of the meat
and grease the god's mouth withal, as well as the mouths of his wife and
children. Then they take of the broth and sprinkle it before the door of
the house; and that done, they deem that their god and his family have had
their share of the dinner.[NOTE 1]
Their drink is mare's milk, prepared in such a way that you would take
it for white wine; and a right good drink it is, called by them
Kemiz.[NOTE 2]
The clothes of the wealthy Tartars are for the most part of gold and silk
stuffs, lined with costly furs, such as sable and ermine, vair and
fox-skin, in the richest fashion.
NOTE 1. - There is no reference here to Buddhism, which was then of recent
introduction among the Mongols; indeed, at the end of the chapter, Polo
speaks of their new adoption of the Chinese idolatry, i.e. Buddhism. We
may add here that the Buddhism of the Mongols decayed and became
practically extinct after their expulsion from China (1368-1369). The old
Shamanism then apparently revived; nor was it till 1577 that the great
reconversion of Mongolia to Lamaism began. This reconversion is the most
prominent event in the Mongol history of Sanang Setzen, whose
great-grandfather Khutuktai Setzen, Prince of the Ordos, was a chief agent
in the movement.
The Supreme Good Spirit appears to have been called by the Mongols
Tengri (Heaven), and Khormuzda, and is identified by Schmidt with the
Persian Hormuzd. In Buddhist times he became identified with Indra.
Plano Carpini's account of this matter is very like Marco's: "They believe
in one God, the Maker of all things, visible and invisible, and the
Distributor of good and evil in this world; but they worship Him not with
prayers or praises or any kind of service. Natheless, they have certain
idols of felt, imitating the human face, and having underneath the face
something resembling teats; these they place on either side of the door.
These they believe to be the guardians of the flocks, from whom they have
the boons of milk and increase. Others they fabricate of bits of silk, and
these are highly honoured;... and whenever they begin to eat or drink,
they first offer these idols a portion of their food or drink."
The account agrees generally with what we are told of the original
Shamanism of the Tunguses, which recognizes a Supreme Power over all, and
a small number of potent spirits called Ongot. These spirits among the
Buraets are called, according to one author, Nougait or Nogat, and
according to Erman Ongotui.
